In response, the agency and partners are boosting efforts in eight countries to protect some of the most vulnerable communities who are already struggling with poverty, conflict, joblessness and repeated climate extremes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Priorities include preparing for floods, droughts and storms before they hit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEl Ni\u00f1o is a massive threat to the food security of millions who are already vulnerable,\u201d said Carl Skau, WFP<\/a>\u2019s Acting Executive Director. \u201cThe sooner we help families to prepare for these climate shocks, the greater our ability to save lives and protect livelihoods.\u201d<\/p>\n Acute hunger refers to\u00a0people who are unable to meet their daily food needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Key points49 million more people could face acute hunger because of El Ni\u00f1o beginning in September.225-274 million: the number of acutely food-insecure people could rise by around 22 per cent.Central America and southern Africa are expected to be among hardest-hit regions.Early action benefits: every $1 invested in prevention can save $3\u2013$7 in future losses and response.Learning from past El Ni\u00f1os<\/p>\n WFP noted that the 2015-2016 El Ni\u00f1o impacted the food security of 60 to 100 million people. Early projections indicate that the 2026-2027 El Ni\u00f1o could push at least 49 million more people into acute food insecurity by the end of next year.<\/p>\n After\u00a0analysing 45 countries already considered food insecure \u2013 and where El Ni\u00f1o will significantly influence rainfall patterns, temperatures, floods and droughts \u2013 the agency expects the total number of acutely food-insecure people to rise from 225 million to 274 million people, an increase\u00a0of approximately 22 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parts of Central America and southern Africa are expected to bear the brunt of climate extremes, although significant impacts are also forecast in eastern Africa and South and Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n WFP stressed the variety of El Ni\u00f1o\u2019s impact: \u201cSome countries are already experiencing below-average rainfall, flooding and unusually hot temperatures, while others are expected to face deteriorating conditions during upcoming planting seasons and harvests.\u201d<\/p>\n WFP report findings:Latin America and the Caribbean\u00a0could see one of the sharpest rises in food insecurity, with more than\u00a016 million people\u00a0affected.\u00a0Central America\u00a0is projected to have the largest proportional increase (83.1 per cent) of all areas analysed in the report.East and Southern Africa\u00a0face substantial risks, particularly where upcoming rainy seasons are critical for food production. More than\u00a018 million people\u00a0could see their food security deteriorate, representing a\u00a026 per cent increase.\u00a0Southern African countries are particularly exposed because many households depend on rain-fed subsistence agriculture.Asia and the Pacific\u00a0could see significant impacts in several already vulnerable countries with an estimated\u00a08.2 million additional people\u00a0facing acute food insecurity.West and Central Africa\u00a0are also at risk with food insecurity projected to increase by\u00a012 per cent, affecting nearly\u00a0six million additional people.<\/p>\n WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have already appealed<\/a>\u00a0for increased support to help at-risk communities prepare for El Ni\u00f1o to help protect lives, livelihoods and food security before emergencies escalate.<\/p>\n Investment multiplier<\/p>\n El Ni\u00f1o is expected to peak between September and December 2026, but the effects will be felt throughout 2027 in many countries, owing to impacts on future harvests. \u201cDrought, flooding and extreme temperatures are already putting communities at risk,\u201d WFP warned.<\/p>\n Working closely with FAO<\/a>, OCHA<\/a> and other partners, WFP has active prevention\u00a0 plans in more than 50 countries and is supporting governments and communities to reduce risks.<\/p>\n Since May, WFP has triggered anticipatory action plans in South Sudan, Chad, Mauritania, Uganda, Guatemala and El Salvador, providing more than $14 million in lifesaving responses to support half a million people. This includes scaling its pre-arranged financing mechanisms such as disaster risk insurance, credit, and digital payments, to make more money available at lower cost.<\/p>\n These efforts help communities and governments prepare for and withstand sudden shocks while reducing future humanitarian needs. In fact, experiences from prior El Ni\u00f1o events have shown that $1 invested in anticipatory programs can save between $3 and $7 in avoided losses and response costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In response, the agency and partners are boosting efforts in eight countries to protect some of the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-576240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}